The present invention relates to a handle for disposable brush or mop heads, and more particularly to a handle from which a soiled brush or mop head may be removed without touching by the user.
In the industrial, commercial and institutional cleaning field, brushes such as toilet brushes normally comprise plastic or wooden handles to which a brush or mop head is rigidly, permanently secured. When the brush or mop head is sufficiently worn or used, the entire device, handle and all, is thrown away and a new unit obtained to replace it. Because of the large numbers of such brushes used in a commercial cleaning service and the frequency with which they must be replaced, the cost of replacing the entire device may be very high. There would be a potentially great cost saving if, when the brush or mop head became worn or sufficiently used, it could be simply removed from the handle and replaced with a fresh brush or mop head.
Cleaning devices having replaceable heads are known. For example Rogers Canadian Pat. No. 524,038 dated Apr. 17, 1956, describes a replaceable toilet bowl cleaning swab device in which a handle is provided with a socket at one end for engaging a stud-like projection from a cleaning pad portion. To remove the pad when soiled, the user either grips the pad with the hand, or else wedges the pad for instance at the edge of a toilet bowl and pull to withdraw the handle. Palma et al Canadian Pat. No. 512,316 issued Apr. 26, 1955 describes a similar type of sponge cleaner device in which a disposable sponge head has a tongue to fit in a recess provided at one end of a permanent handle. U.S. Pat. No. 3,423,781 of Henson issued Jan. 28, 1969 describes and illustrates a detachable mop or broom head device, in which the head is secured to a dowel which fits into a cylindrical, spring-loaded sleeve secured to the bottom end of a permanent handle. Both the Palma et al and Henson devices require the user to grip the sponge or mop head to remove it from the handle.
Another type of toilet bowl cleaning device having a head which is detachable from the handle portion is described in Beck et al Canadian Pat. No. 551,353 issued Jan. 7, 1958. This reference describes a toilet bowl cleaner swab having a string built into the swab so that, when it is desired to detach the swab from the handle portion, the string is pulled to rupture the swab and detach it.
Prost U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,809 issued Aug. 18, 1981 describes a tube-like holding tool for a swab for cleaning, for example, interior components of machinery and the like. The swab, secured to a rod and having an absorbant tip, is held in a tube sufficiently small to prevent the swab tip from being inserted into the tube. Insertion of another rod, down the back end of the tube, to contact the end of the rod of the swab and eject it out the front end, is one manner described to remove the swab and rod from the tube. A similar type of swab holding tube, this time for swabs for collection of medical specimens, is described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,296 of Gradone issued Jan. 23, 1973.
Other references of general background interest are Canadian Pat. No. 111,636 of Rife issued Apr. 28, 1908 and Canadian Pat. No. 523,765 of Greacen et al issued Apr. 10, 1956 (both describing and illustrating clamp-type handles for releasably holding sponges); U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,494 of Smith issued Jul. 11, 1961; U.S. Pat. No. 2,866,215 of Scully issued Dec. 30, 1958 and Canadian Pat. No. 996,321 of Jaklmczyk issued Sept. 7, 1976.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an economical permanent type handle for a disposable brush or mop head, from which a soiled head may be removed without requiring the user to touch the head. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a handle which will be rugged and easy to use.